CRIMSON LIES

The hunt begins

Chapter 12:

The streets were unusually quiet.

Seo Yuan tugged her coat tighter around herself as she walked home from the café, trying to shake the unsettling feeling crawling up her spine.

Something was wrong.

She glanced over her shoulder for the third time. Nothing. Just dimly lit sidewalks and the distant hum of traffic. But the air felt… off.

She quickened her pace.

Maybe she was being paranoid. Maybe Ji-hoon’s warning had gotten to her. Maybe—

A sudden flicker of movement.

Seo Yuan’s heart lurched.

A man in a dark hoodie was leaning against a streetlamp, smoking. He wasn’t looking at her, but something about him—**the stillness, the way he tilted his head slightly as she passed—**sent alarm bells blaring in her mind.

She picked up her pace. Almost home.

Then—

Another figure.

Standing near the entrance of her apartment complex.

Seo Yuan’s breath hitched. No.

This wasn’t a coincidence.

She didn’t know how, but she felt it. She was being watched. Followed.

Her fingers fumbled for her phone. Yoon-gi. She needed to call Yoon-gi.

But before she could dial—

A hand grabbed her wrist.

She gasped, spinning around—only to see the man from the streetlamp, his grip like iron.

"Going somewhere?" His voice was eerily calm.

Seo Yuan’s blood ran cold.

She opened her mouth to scream—

A gun clicked behind her.

A deep voice. Low, taunting. "I wouldn’t do that if I were you."

Seo Yuan froze. Oh, God.

This wasn’t just a warning.

This was a trap.

And she had walked right into it.

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